Of the two or three things I am proud of in this hobby, getting most everyone to believe that Han's coat on Hoth is actually Brown and not Blue (Including Hasbro!) ranks right up there...this goes back to my days over at SSG (which was going on 10 years ago!) Anyhoo...I wrote a story for our forums which can be read:

I was always more upset the vintage Han had yellow/brown legs as opposed to the correct grey color. Kenner had a ton of coloring issues with the old figures. The regular Han had black pants and they should have been navy. The Cantina aliens were all off. NBD IMO.The old Han was great for the holster alone. Always a favorite of mine.

But yeah this debate was heating up just as I started posting online. I never really cared about the color, but I always saw the brown coat when I watched ESB and actually paid attention to the coat color. I care more about the color being screen accurate, but I do think it's awesome that Hasbro continually gives us both colors. I think this was the first time I actually felt like HAsbro actually listens to us. Ironically I own the blue coat figure from the Droid Factory pack from a few years ago. Definitely need to track down the brown hood up Han figure since the hood down figures are awful.

First, I loved Hoth Han as a kid, and he always got mixed in as a scientist the Joes had to rescue when it was winter out. The figure just kept coming back into the play mix with me over and over. I still have my original, though he's beat to hell.

His modern counterparts have been sketchy... I liked the Taun Taun figure a bit, but obviously it lacks articulation. The POTF2 carded figure sorta sucked major. The Saga figure(s) both sucked, but the blue jacket a little more than the brown obviously.

I was ecstatic to see a new one then in the TVSC... though he can be improved! What can't, right? I could totally see Hasbro doing softgoods and a separate holster for this figure now though. I could see him getting upgraded articulation for Taun-Taun-ing as well. Some ball-jointed hips, softgoods "skirt", and I'd be pretty ecstatic with it so long as you got both headsculpts (hood up and down).

One cool thing the Saga figure had that the newer ones do not, was a better blaster. That DL44 just looked a lot snazzier than the ones they have with all Han figures now. I don't know why, but I just liked it a lot more.

Now, I'm taking a stroll down BHC memory lane here... BRB.

OK... Wow.

So here's some thoughts...

-I still laugh at all the people who complained about the people complaining on the toy. What the hell is a toy forum about, if it's not to sit there critiquing the toys that come out? Everyone wanted sunshine and giddy children blown out of their asses about that Hoth Han figure, and you know what? It still sucked a big fat weiner.

That figure had a goofy wide stance, goofy action feature tumor on his ass, and was originally the wrong color... That was a bad figure. Was it sculpted ok? Sure. Was it better sculpted than the original? Sure. And it came with a cool mask feature, and a cool working holster. It had good points, but for me the bad far outweighed it, and that figure still sucks. I have my POTF2 Han riding the Taun-Taun to this day, till Hasbro updates the VTSC figure to do that.

-Rob was a real dick.

-JoshEEE had some seriously passive-aggressive **** going on.

-GNT was actually on our side, till he seemed to lose something in the translation with Scott and I...

-I was actually the first person to suggest Hasbro do both versions of Hoth Han's coat, and now I wonder if that actually played a part in them doing both coats? That's really neat.

-That thread was epic at 7 pages, and it was among collectors that largely aren't there at all now.

-It's the only known thread to actually get Hasbro's attention enough to make an ad for it.

-Han's coat is so clearly brown, it's not even funny now looking back at how wrong people were.

-I see one guy tried arguing it was brown at a costume fitting, but would not provide any visual proof of how he knew this, or where he had seen this. Yet he still would directly address Scott with his info, as to why Scott was wrong.

-That thread actually spawned a number of side arguments between myself and others.

-Dressel was all about defending that brown coat too.

-I miss Dax.

-Our own Paul Mundheim wanted Blue! You bastard!

-And yes, that figure still sucks. Thank god Hasbro actually listened to complaints, and the line's steadily improved since the dark times. Those years were some of the worst IMO, as far as what was coming out goes.